Dive Overview:
- Gilead’s chief medical officer, Mehrdat Parsy, is set to step down from his role early next year and leave the biotech company. Gilead said in a statement: Wednesday.
- The departure of Percy, who has served as Gilead’s top physician since 2019, marks a major change in the company’s drug development leadership. Pay attention to Clinical SetbacksThese changes, particularly in oncology, have prompted investors to question Gilead’s research and development strategy.
- Gilead said it would begin a search for a replacement for Percy to help with the transition over the coming months. Gilead shares rose as much as 3% in morning trading on Wednesday.
Dive Insights:
Percy, a physician and biotechnology veteran, joins Gilead from Genentech, where he worked as a clinical director. Broader reform of Gilead’s leadership It all started with the appointment of Daniel O’Day as CEO in 2019. O’Day, who had previously led Roche’s pharmaceutical division, was named GILEAD’S PRIORITIES CHANGE It has expanded beyond viral diseases to oncology.
a A series of oncology-focused acquisitions and partnerships Next came a series of experimental cancer drugs that Percy was tasked with advancing through clinical development. Gilead had some success, but some of those deals didn’t pan out, and Trodelby, the main asset it acquired in its $21 billion acquisition of Immunomedics, was a scam. not enough in Pivotal Clinical Trials.
“There has been significant controversy and debate over the successes and failures of R&D over the past few years,” Jefferies analyst Michael Yee said in an investor note on the news of Percy’s departure. “Therefore, a change in R&D leadership should be perceived by the market as incrementally positive for the stock price, given the low expectations and mixed results over the past few years.”
Gilead’s track record in oncology has been mixed, but the company continues to expand in HIV, which has long been one of its top research priorities. US approves first HIV drugIn recent tests, Highly effective in preventing infection.
In a statement about Percy’s planned retirement, O’Day noted that Gilead had “more than doubled” its portfolio under Percy’s leadership. “The past few years have been a pivotal time for the company as we have worked to strengthen and diversify our portfolio, and Mehrdad has played an integral role in our success.”
Percy also helped develop Gilead’s first treatment, Veklury. Food and Drug Administration Approved For COVID-19. Originally studied as a treatment for hepatitis C and Ebola, Veklury advanced rapidly through testing early in the pandemic and has since been used widely, though on a limited basis, to treat patients hospitalized with COVID.
“It has been an honor to lead the development team as we work to bring groundbreaking medicines to patients with HIV, COVID-19 and cancer, among others,” Percy said in a Gilead statement.
